It's been a month or so since my last update, so I thought it high time to get to writing.

This chap's mostly a transitional one, so not a whole lot of action in it.

Out of curiosity, how many readers want the pairing to include Sasuke and Naruto?

And how many are content with leaving them a gay couple?

Feedback will not determine the outcome, but it might influence me.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

It'd been roughly four months since she'd left Konoha, and the Akatsuki had yet to make contact. What the hell is taking them so long? Sakura idly wondered as she sat nursing a cup of warm sake at the bar. She'd known she would go through a period of observation before being approached, but just how much longer were they going to make her wait?

She was currently in the land of snow, studying some of the local techniques for curing frostbite, hypothermia and methods of redistributing body heat. And while she found it all very interesting, she was starting to get impatient. It'd been four months already for kami's sake! A third of a year!

She knew it hadn't necessarily been a waste of time, she had picked up some useful new skills in her travels, but she wanted to start her damn mission already.

The rosy-haired kunoichi let out a silent sigh cradling her now empty cup. And now, to top it all off, I'm out of sake. As she contemplated the wisdom of ordering an entire bottle, a new cup was plunked down in front of her.

Puzzled eyes turned to the bartender. "I didn't order another cup."

The man just jerked his head to the right. "I know miss, it's compliments of the gentleman over there."

As the bartender left to serve another customer, Sakura surreptitiously sniffed her new drink before taking a small cautious sip. Satisfied that the sake was benign, she lifted her cup in a silent toast in the general direction of the sender.

"Not very trusting are you?"

Emerald eyes slid towards the speaker, who she vaguely recognized as the sender, as she gave a small shrug, "It's not lack of trust so much as stupidity."

The man, a rain shinobi by the looks of his forehead protector, chuckled. "And stupid is not something anyone would accuse you of being Sakura Haruno."

Her gaze immediately sharpened, evaluating the possible threat before her. "What do you want?"

He met her gaze calmly. "It's not so much what I want, rather than what I can offer you."

"And you're offering…?" she prodded.

"A place in the Akatsuki, the leaders have heard good things about you and have decided to extend an invitation to the organization."

Sakura restrained herself from squealing like an overly excited fangirl. About damn time! "How long is the offer good for?" It wouldn't do to appear too eager.

The man was visibly surprised, unaccustomed to having offers not immediately accepted. "You have heard of the Akatsuki, right?" he asked hesitantly, confused at her apparent disinterest.

She nodded and gave him a pointed look, still waiting for a response to her earlier question.

"Umm, well to tell you the truth I've never had to wait for a response so I'm not entirely sure. How long do you need?"

"I was planning on staying here a week or so longer," she replied while casually sipping her drink.

"So your answer is yes?"

"I never said that, but I'll tag along after that if you're planning on going to the Akatsuki headquarters. I want to talk to the leaders before making my decision."

The man seemed to give an internal shrug before he replied. "I can stick around that long, I'll be here every evening so just let me know when you're ready to leave."

She nodded before downing the rest of her sake. The kunoichi pushed back her stool and started making her way out of the bar. Just before exiting however, she tilted her head back. "I don't think I ever got your name."

"It's Hiraku Sato," he said with a small smile.

"I'll see you around then Sato." With that, she stepped out into the crisp afternoon air. Hiraku huh? The name suits his current job.

She made her way down the street, clutching her cloak tighter. She didn't think she'd ever getter use the Land of Snow's perpetual winter. Her entire body was heavily layered and she still felt chilled to the bone. Despite the miserable weather however, a grin spread across Sakura's face.

She was finally in!

All that time patiently –well…relatively patiently- biding her time until now had paid off. The Akatsuki had taken the bait! And while it was a tad bit degrading to regard herself as such, bait was a pretty accurate label for her in this situation.

If she were to be completely honest, however, she was glad of the time they'd taken before contacting her. Not because she particularly liked waiting, but because of the chance it gave her to pull herself together.

Though she'd put on a damned good act for her two ex-lovers, leaving Konoha, and them in particular, had caused her a boat load of anguish she'd have been more than happy to do without. Yeah, her mind realized that seeing them, even irregularly, kept her heart from healing and moving on. But her heart, the masochistic organ that is was, cried out sharply against the separation.

The fucking thing had been damn near unbearable the first couple of days into her journey, loudly protesting every step that took it further away from those two. It fought incessantly against inner, trying to persuade her into returning to the village.

Thankfully, after about two weeks into her trip, her inner finally got fed up with her heart's bitching and brow-beat the thing into submission.

Sakura had never been more thankful for her mental instability. Sometimes having another mind and slightly more vicious personality came in handy.

So, after finally achieving some sort of inner peace, she'd spent the time up till now transforming herself into the proud, independent, take-no-shit kunoichi she'd been before the whole Sasuke/Naruto thing reduced her into a pathetic, clingy, heart-broken mess. And she was proud of the result.

Sure, it would probably be some time before she was completely over those two. But she no longer succumbed to the heartache, she had her pride back. And for a person who'd been wallowing in self-pity for weeks, it felt damned good.

She couldn't wait till Akatsuki.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Hiraku, according to a Japanese name site, roughly translates to 'pioneer'.

I though it suiting for his job as an Akatsuki recruiter.

I'm not sure what my next update will be on.

Either 'Forgive and Forget?' or one of my Hermione fics.

Inspiration is a fickle thing.

So until next time…

Later.